Frustration

Hello.

I know that this might not be the most constructive feedback, but I am getting really frustrated with my NP3900 (and NP3700).

I bought both players in November to have a nice radio for the kitchen and one for the bedroom. They had to fulfill the "wife acceptance factor" - i.e. look nice and be easy to handle. All good so far. Especially the physical remote control turned out to be great. We are hardly using the touch screen or the Android app.

But now the negative impressions start to pile up - and got so bad with the recent firmware update to the NP3900 that is it not acceptable anymore:
- Features for NP3700 and NP3900 are actually different. One can dim the display after a time out, one cannot. I clearly did not expect that as the players where released as one series esp. for such simple features.
- We like to keep the devices in sleep mode, but they seem to have problems with the wifi connection when they come out of sleep, so a hard-restart is required *sometimes*
- The Internet Radio for NP3900 crashes after a few minutes or might go on for hours *sometimes* (just to ensure you, the general Wifi is stable for all other devices in the household)
- If I use the Android Remote, it works with a fresh start of the app. If I later start the app again, it does not work and I have to kill the task (on Samsung Galaxy S with 2.3.5 firmware)
- The Wifi signal for NP3900 is *much worse* than for NP3700. We switched players between kitchen and bedroom when problems started
- After the recent firmware update, the NP3900 sometimes even gets stuck in sleep mode: the clock is displayed in standby - the time shown was 10 am while it was actually 3 pm. Only pulling the power cable allowed a restart!
- That the NP3900 completely freezes (while playing Internet Radio or while in standby) and only pulling the power cable helps. This happened to me three times in one week since the firmware update.

What I am saying is that the hardware of these products seems to be very nice.

However, the quality of the software is the worst, I have experienced in consumer products and actually makes me reconsider my planned purchase of a new Philips TV. As said, it is not just a specific issue, but rather the overall stability of the devices.

Philips, please look into your quality assurance processes and release new firmware more often with a clear transparent schedule. And if you are not good enough at software development, consider sponsoring an Open Source project like Logitech does with the Squeezebox series.

What I am saying is that the hardware of these products seems to be very nice.

However, the quality of the software is the worst I have experienced in consumer products and actually makes me reconsider my planned purchase of a new Philips TV. As said, it is not just a specific issue, but rather the overall stability of the devices.

Philips, please look into your quality assurance processes and release new firmware more often with a clear transparent schedule. And if you are not good enough at software development, consider sponsoring an Open Source project like Logitech does with the Squeezebox series.

Best regards.

I agree 100% with joxn and I am glad he mentioned the Open Source alternative.

I am a user and developer of Open Source software (OSS). As every OSS user knows, sometimes OSS has bugs. But because it's OSS, I or someone else can fix them. Or at least study and understand them.

This Philips firmware has bugs which we can't at present fix or understand.

Open up the firmware and there's a possibility that one or more frustrated software developers with a malfunctioning NP3900 will contribute bugfixes.

I don't know on what basis the Streamium can be considered as legacy, but I share the frustration. I have 7 streamium devices home: MCi900, 3*NP2900, 2*NP2500' and 1 NP3900.

The NP3900 is full of issues and indeed, I often need to perform a hard reboot especially if I use the Philips myRemote application (to select a radio) or a UPNP control point on Android.
I have given up reporting these issues. At one point of time I wanted to shoot a movie but I feel there is no point, I just accept to do a hard reboot now and then. The old NP2500 and NP2900 behave correctly.

I just bought a new phone with nice DLNA capabilities and it also causes the NP3900 to freeze immediately, while it works with every other DLNA device I own. So we have to conclude that the NP3900 cannot be controlled by DLNA control points.

Using the wired interface instead of Wi-Fi and using the handheld infrared remote (and occasionally the Android remote) to control it, I have few problems with the NP3900.

So we have to conclude that the NP3900 cannot be controlled by DLNA control points.

I agree and they have misleading publicity which is a fraud.
I suggested and was requested to make a short video to show evidences that it freezes (+ the empty radio list), but I don't want to spend any more time on this. It is so obvious to get it to freeze any serious testing would lead to the same conclusion. It also freezes when you control with a control point on a PC (example Twonly manager).
As usual Quality Assurance issues (what does the Product Manager do in this company???) and lack of firmware updates.
This does not deserve any attention.

Have had the NP3900 for about 5 months now. A product is to be considered 'legacy' when it performs all its intended functions in a reliable way, only to be updated when issues either hamper the normal operation or cause any sort of safety issue.
In the case of the NP3900, the product is so blatantly undertested that it is hard to say that it performs as intended. Any sustained sequence of normal usage commands (also known as stress and stability testing) will bring the unit down with an ominous 'plop', only to be revived via a power unplug. Anyone asking for a repeatable sequence has not bothered looking at the unit: make it sweat, in a few minutes it will freeze.
This is by no decent standards a state in which Development and Quality Assurance and Product Marketing and Support can claim ignorance and not provide further support, let alone be proud of the result achieved. This can be a great product, but the job is not finished!

dissappointed

Originally Posted by joxn

Hello.

I know that this might not be the most constructive feedback, but I am getting really frustrated with my NP3900 (and NP3700).

I bought both players in November to have a nice radio for the kitchen and one for the bedroom. They had to fulfill the "wife acceptance factor" - i.e. look nice and be easy to handle. All good so far. Especially the physical remote control turned out to be great. We are hardly using the touch screen or the Android app.

But now the negative impressions start to pile up - and got so bad with the recent firmware update to the NP3900 that is it not acceptable anymore:
- Features for NP3700 and NP3900 are actually different. One can dim the display after a time out, one cannot. I clearly did not expect that as the players where released as one series esp. for such simple features.
- We like to keep the devices in sleep mode, but they seem to have problems with the wifi connection when they come out of sleep, so a hard-restart is required *sometimes*
- The Internet Radio for NP3900 crashes after a few minutes or might go on for hours *sometimes* (just to ensure you, the general Wifi is stable for all other devices in the household)
- If I use the Android Remote, it works with a fresh start of the app. If I later start the app again, it does not work and I have to kill the task (on Samsung Galaxy S with 2.3.5 firmware)
- The Wifi signal for NP3900 is *much worse* than for NP3700. We switched players between kitchen and bedroom when problems started
- After the recent firmware update, the NP3900 sometimes even gets stuck in sleep mode: the clock is displayed in standby - the time shown was 10 am while it was actually 3 pm. Only pulling the power cable allowed a restart!
- That the NP3900 completely freezes (while playing Internet Radio or while in standby) and only pulling the power cable helps. This happened to me three times in one week since the firmware update.

What I am saying is that the hardware of these products seems to be very nice.

However, the quality of the software is the worst, I have experienced in consumer products and actually makes me reconsider my planned purchase of a new Philips TV. As said, it is not just a specific issue, but rather the overall stability of the devices.

Philips, please look into your quality assurance processes and release new firmware more often with a clear transparent schedule. And if you are not good enough at software development, consider sponsoring an Open Source project like Logitech does with the Squeezebox series.

Best regards.

I too have the misfortune to own an NP3900. streams music well from my pc and laptop. Sound quality is great. That's about all I can say.
Constant crashes and lockups on the radio mode. It was bought as a radio and alarm clock.
I now use an old Advent Vega android tablet as a radio source plugged into my streamium np3900 as a powered speaker.

It's a shame they can't get quality working firmware for what would otherwise be an excellent piece of kit.

Does it crashes wired and/or wireless also? Looks not very stable then. Did you try next to the router and on a different channel..

Wireless only, it's situated roughly 3 metres from router only obstruction is a door.
I have taken router off auto channel and tried various channels right through the range but no joy. It's now back on auto. BBC radio 2 is listened to most.
It has been rock steady on a few occasions, but mostly very very annoying dropping out for long periods and freezes. I have reset the unit a number of times.

Which router do you have and did you already try with a different one? Also could you try it some while cabled and tell what happens

Apologies for delay. BT have replaced my BT Hub3 and and repaired? my download speeds. I did a speed test and speeds had dropped to 4mb. My broadband speed is now an acceptable 40mb. It did take them about 3 weeks to sort it. I

However still frustrated with Streamium. Same problems exist, still disappointing performance. It crashed again this and morning and network key had to be reset. Streams music from PC with no probs. Radio listening is a bind especially BBC stations I even switched off nearby fridge/freezer to see if that was causing interference made no difference.

Its got better......

I tried tinkering with my BThub again. I took it off auto channel again. This time tried locking it to a several channels. Already had it locked to ch.11. This time I tried ch.13 no improvement. Experimented with several channels throughout the range. Still losing radio and crashes.

I switched off N mode and tried b/g only. no joy here either. I put the hub back to N and auto(smart channel) and Voila NP9300 is working extremely well. It has worked for hours without interruption or crashing
Now if it could play Flac files it would be near perfect.

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New Posts

Hi Rafal, sorry for late response due to the system is not at my local home but in Belgium.
>>I have checked the SW/firmware version, this is mpeg-v23/mcu-v32.
This weekend I had a strange issue....